


Stay Awake

by PolarGrizz47



Series: Uncharted Prompts [40]
Category: Uncharted (Video Games)
Genre: Death, Grief/Mourning, M/M, Serious Injuries
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-20
Updated: 2017-02-20
Packaged: 2018-09-25 22:16:29
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 758
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9848759
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PolarGrizz47/pseuds/PolarGrizz47
Summary: Written for the prompt: "Stay Awake Knot/Orca"





	

Knot found himself drifting in and out, blackness threatening the edges of his vision as keeping his eyes open became harder and harder. He could feel his head lolling to the side, the rough bark biting into his scalp. His hands struggled to stay against his side, even if Orca had ordered him to keep them there, push against the seeping red on his uniform.

Two others lay in the dirt beside them, one he knew was dead for sure, his throat and chest impaled with wood, blood already pooling in the thick foliage around their body. It was already starting to smell like rot. The other one he wasn’t so sure of, Orca had stopped checking on them a while ago… Knot assumed the worst - perhaps, _best_ outcome. Nothing wrong with a quick death.

He wondered if they had felt as much pain as he did at first, his lips quirking with amusement that fell quickly short. Some scouting leader he turned out to be…

At least it didn’t hurt anymore, his wounds just felt… warm, numb, slick.

He could taste copper on his lips, but he wasn’t scared. Knot always knew what awaited him in a job like this - there were no happy endings in war.

It was hard to focus, his chin falling against his chest, sleepiness settling heavily on his weary body.

“Hey, China,” Orca mutters, a rough hand smacking against his cheek. “What’d I just tell ya?”

The other man struggles to open his eyes, staring up at Orca through the darkness clouding his vision. He could’ve sworn the other man looked _worried_.

“Told me to… Stay awake,” Knot managed, his chest expanding for a deep breath, one that ended in a series of coughs and red escaping the edges of his lips. He hissed as Orca moved his hands away, examining the wound with an unimpressed scrutiny in his gaze. Knot slapped at the older man’s hands with a groan, “ _Fukkoff_.”

“Of course, you had to be the idiot to trigger the trap,” Orca growled under his breath, standing up once more and fiddling with the radio clipped to his shoulder. Knot let the unsettling sound of radio static and hushed, angry muttering lull him into another brief sleep.

At least the creeping pain wouldn’t follow him into unconsciousness…

“Not yet,” Orca barked, another smack under his jaw jerking Knot back into a semi-lucid state. “Not until Nadine gets here, got it?”

The man just gazed at him with half-lidded eyes, blood slowly trailing from his nose and a thick cut above his left eyebrow, the red mixing with the coal colored war paint. It didn’t look good, the wound was messy and splintered with ages old rotting wood, the trap quite complex for its age.

Orca’s own arm ached, the blood sluggishly dripping from the split tiger tattoo. The inked lines would never match up again, even _if_ the scars healed nicely.

Knot was too quiet, his usual charming and witty attitude falling short as he grew paler, sweat beading along his brow. Even if he made it to the main camp, Orca doubted that the doctors there could even operate on _what was left_ of Knot’s middle.

It was a strange sight to see indeed, one of Shoreline’s best curled up by a tree, looking ashen and small. He’d seen other men fall, but Knot? Knot was _untouchable_ when it came to the reaper’s presence.

Orca’s heart felt heavy, expressions stunted as he struggled to live by the macho attitude that Knot and the others were so used to seeing. It hurt to witness the other mercenary like this - they’d been through a lot, seen rivers of bloodshed, caused more harm than good _together_. It felt like the unjust ending to something historic -

“Hey, China,” Orca growled, giving Knot another shake when his head lolled. “Knot - don’t you give up on me - stay awake - _Hey_ -”

-:-

Nadine was uncharacteristically quiet, only hissing out orders between half-clenched teeth and sarcastically responding to Rafe’s prodding. Orca stands by the door to their meeting, his expression stony even if his gaze was intently staring at the new dog tags carefully placed onto the bloodied map. He bites his tongue, pressing his dull teeth against the edges of it, keeping himself pacified. Underneath the table was a duffle with faded, terrible handwriting on it, aged, brown blood and Shoreline’s crest.

Orca knew exactly what was in there, all of one man’s belongings held in a dependable duffle.

It was historic, _the ending of an era._

**Author's Note:**

> :333c


End file.
